Rococo comes from a combination of the French word rocaille

The name, Rococo comes from a combination of the French word rocaille, which signifies shells or in Italian barocco or Baroque style. The former refers to the absorption with ornamental conceptions and arches in Rococo expressive style. Critics initially used the term as a disparaging comment against what they determined as the frippery of the Rococo pattern of art. But when the term was taken in into the English linguistic process, it upheld the connotations of classicism both in vogue and traditional. Art historians have varied opinions about the meaning of the trend in the development of art but it has now been acknowledged as an influential feature of the span of European art.